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Tuesday February 27th was the “Take A Little PIZZA My Heart” dinner crawl. It was our version of a Valentine’s Day Crawl without all the clichés that go with it. If you didn’t have a date then pizza was your date. Who isn’t in love with PIZZA?!

We all had an amazing time on this crawl and there was so much food that we had to take to-go boxes.

We started the evening at the famous Angelos in Lakewood. Ahem…Tom Hank’s favorite pizza place! Angelos hit the ball out of the park with their friendly staff, service and food! Our guests received 4 extra large pizzas to split amongst themselves, fried cheese curds and a complimentary drink of their choice. This stop was definitely a favorite.

Our 2nd stop was Crust in Tremont. Crust is known for their very large pizza slices and their rustic style. Our dinner crawlers received half of their typical signature large slice, a house salad with a homemade dressing and fried mozzarella paired with their house red blend (wine).

We ended the evening at the new Saucy Brew Works in Hingetown. The dinner crawlers were served a slice of the Clevelander pizza, Chick’N waffle pizza, garlic bread and a Saucy ball paired with 3 different house made beers!

Everyone left full and happy!

Our next crawl is Sunday March 25th from 3:00-6:00PM. The theme is Falafel into Spring: A mix of the Middle East on the East side of Cleveland. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the March Of Dimes. Come out to support local businesses and a wonderful charity. Do not miss out on great food, new friends and good times!

If you're reading this, we have successfully completed our first dinner crawl as The Social Kitchen! (Insert the sound of Prosecco bottles poppin' followed by a brief Grey's Anatomy inspired "dance it out" session). Before we make everyone jealous by recapping our amazing evening, we must thank everyone who made the "No Key Needed" dinner crawl possible.

Thank you Lexi Corsaro (Assistant Food and Beverage Manager), Angela Flood (Marketing Manager), Executive Chef Keith Cooper, Sous Chef Robert De La Ree and the rest of the staff of the 1890 Lounge in the Hyatt Regency Hotel at The Arcade. Thank you Brendan Kearney (General Manager), Aubrey Austin (Event Coordinator), Chef Mario Santo Domingo and the Lago East Bank staff. Thank you Todd (Hotel Manager), Chef Zachary and George (Restaurant Manager) of Encore at the Wyndham in Playhouse Square.

Thank you to our friends at VIP Rides-Party Bus Services for the decked out luxury bus. We were cruising around the city in style. Thank you Orville McEachron of Orville McEachron Photography. We are obsessed with our photos!

Last but certainly not least, a very special thank you to all of our "No Key Needed" dinner crawlers. You guys made the night so much fun!

Now, let's talk about our evening:

The "No Key Needed" dinner crawl was a hotel restaurant themed crawl. We traveled to 3 of the best hotel restaurants in Cleveland. The evening started with the meet up on the luxury bus, a special toast with Moletto Prosecco and an awesome group of people.

Our first stop was the 1890 Lounge in the Hyatt Regency at The Arcade. We were blown away by this trio. As soon as we were seated, the chefs dropped a sea bass, shrimp, coconut and habanero Ceviche bomb on us. The Ceviche was served in a cocktail like glass that was inside of a glass bowl filled with water and dry ice. It was bubblin', smokin' and delicious. Next up was Carpaccio. The Carpaccio was a thinly sliced beef tenderloin served with a Caesar romaine spear inside of a Parmesan cheese cigar. If you've never had a Parmesan cheese cigar, you aren't doing life right. To complete the trio, the chefs created a Savory White Lentil Beignet (fried lentil pillow). It was warm, crisp and definitely SAVORY ;-)

The second stop was the very well known Lago East Bank at the Aloft hotel in the Flats. This trio tasting made our guests start to wonder if they were really on some kind of hidden camera, all-you-can-eat show. If you thought that by tasting trio we were just going to give you a little sample on a spoon, you thought wrong. The Lago staff brought out a hearty trio plate that consisted of: Lago's signature Meatball (veal,pork,beef) with a simple tomato sauce topped with Parmesan cheese and basil; Braised Beef Short Ribs over a root vegetable puree served with a glazed baby carrot, broccolini and a red wine reduction; Salmon over a beet puree served with Brussels sprouts and topped with a horseradish creme fraiche. There are no words needed to describe how amazing this plate was. Let's just say, every single plate was empty. I think our dinner crawlers forgot that there was still one more stop...

The final stop was Encore at the Wyndham in Playhouse Square. This hotel and restaurant are currently in the remodeling phase. By the end of summer there will be a complete transformation; A new name, new rooms, new menu and a new restaurant with a patio! The Encore trio tasting was an introduction for their new chef Zachary, who has been there for about a month now. To round out our evening this trio tasting consisted of: crab, avocado, tomato and goat cheese on a crostini; Miso glazed pan-seared scallop over a rice cake; Dolce pear roasted in brown butter served with toasted pistachios, roasted caramel sauce and mascarpone. This trio plate was light, tasty and a great closer to our night!

Well that about sums up our "No Key Needed" dinner crawl. We did our best to summarize this fabulous night but obviously there's nothing better than experiencing it for yourself.

We are so excited for our next dinner crawl. Details to be released soon. We can't wait to meet more good people, eat more great food and get SOCIAL!

What an amazing time we had on the "No Key Needed" dinner crawl. We'd like to thank our special restaurant partners who were extremely hospitable and prepared excellent dishes for us to enjoy. See our blog post below for a full recap of where we went and more importantly, what we ate!

We hope to see you on the next dinner crawl, let's get social.

Ashley and I had a day full of meetings and research on Wednesday! What kind of research do two women with a food event company do? We eat! On our journey to putting on the best food events ever, we must sample A LOT of food. Tough life but someone has to do it.

Anyone who knows me (Courtney), knows that I am not an adventurous eater. Before yesterday, Brussels sprouts were as wild as I would get. While we were out "researching" we ran into an old friend of mine who happens to be the executive chef at an upscale restaurant in the Flats. He treated us to two special surprise dishes. I do not like the element of surprise when it comes to food but I trust my friend. First, he sent out a beautiful plate that smelled like a little piece of heaven. This plate was so visually appealing that I had to send a picture to my husband, snap chat and post it on this blog. I could not wait to taste what appeared to be the best chicken I was ever going to have. Well, that chicken turned out to be OCTOPUS..and I loved it! I could not believe that I kept digging my fork into this bowl of octopus but I would do it all over again. It really tasted like the most tender, flavorful and perfectly cooked chicken one could imagine. Next up, BONE MARROW. At this point Ashley was trying to make sure I wasn't about to pass out. I made Ashley try it first so she could describe the flavor and mouth feel to me. I held my breath and spread the bone marrow across my crostini. LOL I sound so dramatic right now but this is really how it happened! So anyway, the bone marrow finally made it to my mouth and to my surprise, I really liked it. It tasted sort of like beef broth and butter. It was flavorful and subtle. I was most worried about the texture but the crostini really helped. It was absolutely delicious and I will definitely eat bone marrow again.

I am so excited about the ride that The Social Kitchen is going to take us on. I can't wait for the amazing food we will eat and the unforgettable people that we will meet. I know that I will continue to be pulled out of my comfort zone in so many ways but I can't wait to rise to each occasion.

Have you seen one of our posts on social media and are still wondering to yourself, 'What is The Social Kitchen?'

We are a Cleveland based food event service. We host dinner crawls, private events and a private supper club.

Included on each of our events:

Amazing food: We have searched the city high and low to find you some of the best dishes Cleveland has to offer. We may have eaten way too much but that's a burden we're willing to bear for our guests. ;-) You will have the pleasure of indulging in a trio tasting plate at 3 different restaurants (9 tastings total) in 1 night!

Great company: With amazing food comes even better company, or so we hope...Allow yourself to come out of your comfort zone and meet new people. You already have one thing in common, a love for good food! Network, establish new relationships, rejuvenate old relationships and learn about people from different walks of life.

Transportation: Thanks to our friends at VIP RIDES we aren't limited to just one small area in Cleveland. We are able to venture all over the city in style.

The Best Hosts Ever: No explanation is needed here. To know us is to love us!

Check back here for dinner crawl recaps, one-on-one's with some of Cleveland's foodies and more. Be sure to follow/add us on twitter @thesocialkitch, IG- Thesocialkitchen_Cle, or on our facebook page. We appreciate your support and feedback!